Sleep Paralysis
by XachMustel
Summary: 101 Dalmatian Street. Oneshot. An overworked Dawkins has his first experience with sleep paralysis and it leaves him really shaken.


Dawkins had just finished working on his latest project when he let out a loud yawn. He smiled with satisfaction at his hard work as all his blood, sweat and tears were put into creating his latest invention: The indestructible squeaky toy. No matter how hard a puppy chewed on it, it just wouldn't puncture. It could help provide a lifetime of fun for any dog through adulthood plus it was made of environmentally friendly and disposable materials. All the genius pup had to do was patent his idea but considering he was unable to communicate with humans like his fellow siblings, that would be much easier said than done.

Walking over to his bed, Dawkins passed by Dylan who was half-asleep, "What are you doing up so late, Dawkins?"

"Genius at work, Dylan." Dawkins replied, stretching his body out, "If I lose my body to too many hours of sleep, there's no way I'd be able to get it out of my system."

"Yeah, well I'm starting to get a little concerned for your health." Dylan replied groggily as he rubbed his eyes with his paws, "You really should be getting more sleep."

But Dawkins didn't reply back as he had immediately crashed into his bed and was fast asleep. Dylan smiled at the response as he himself drifted off to sleep.

A couple hours later, Dawkins' eyes snapped open and he looked around the room around him. Everything was normal, all the puppies were asleep and the clock read 3:30 AM. But everything wasn't normal because as soon as he tried to move his limbs, Dawkins felt like he was frozen in place. He slowly turned his head, almost in slow motion to face Dylan. He opened his mouth and tried to speak at normal volume but only a breathy whisper came out, "Dylan...help me...can't move."

"Dawkinsssssssss..." A voice immediately hissed into the genius' ear. Immediately, Dawkins felt a chill race down his spine and his heart began beating rapidly. His eyes darted over to the darkest corner of the room where he sensed a creepy presence.

"Dante?" Dawkins rasped quietly, his throat feeling a bit dry and scratchy.

But as soon as he spoke the goth's name, something else emerged from the shadows. It looked to be the face of a humanoid Japanese geisha girl with makeup and long, stringy, black hair. Dawkins' heart sank and his fear spiked up. It wasn't Dante at all and right away, he could feel a sinister air just oozing out of it. Squeezing his eyes shut, Dawkins started hoping whatever the thing was wouldn't see him and go away but as soon as he did so, he felt an extremely heavy pressure on his chest.

Opening his eyes, Dawkins was greeted to a sight that frightened him more than anything he's ever seen in his life. Looming over him, just inches from his face was the girl and he instantly realized that she had the body of a giant tarantula. He tried to scream but nothing came out as he stared into her pitch black eyes. As soon as he opened his mouth to scream, she opened her mouth and a tentacle like tongue shot out of it, coiling around his neck like a boa constrictor and choking the life out of him. Dawkins just squeezed his eyes shut and sobbed, preparing for the sweet embrace of death when all of a sudden, the creature vanished.

Dawkins opened his eyes again and there was nothing. He sniffled softly, his face drenched with tears and his eyes red from crying as he clutched his Princess Positron doll to his chest. The genius' heart was pounding at a mile a minute and all he could do was whimper and try to keep himself from crying even more as he cradled his doll. A million thoughts fired off in his brain at once as his scientific mind tried searching for a logical explanation but he was far too rattled for his brain to think clearly. He sat in his bed, wide awake until the sun rose up and the Dalmatians all greeted the brand new day.

Dylan stretched and looked over to Dawkins, who looked absolutely terrified and pale, "Good morning Dawkins. Sleep well last night?"

There was no reply from the assistant as he just stared blankly off into space. Dylan blinked, "Dawkins? You look like you've seen a ghost. Is everything all-"

"NO!" Dawkins screamed, taking Dylan by surprise. Before Dylan could react, Dawkins tackled him into a hug and sobbed into his chest with tears rolling down his muzzle, "Oh Dylan, it was so terrifying, it...it...I thought that I was going to die..."

Dylan was quickly taken aback by his assistant's unexpected emotional outburst but then he frowned down at his younger brother and used his paw to wipe the tears from Dawkins' muzzle, "Calm down, Dawkins. It was just a nightmare."

"NO IT WASN'T!" Dawkins yelled at his brother, tears still flowing, "It felt so real! I saw it while I was awake. It...it violated me!"

"What did?" Dylan asked, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

"The spider lady!" Dawkins sobbed loudly, "She...she...she..."

Dylan instantly rolled his eyes, "You know, I warned you about staying up too late and working too hard, Dawkins. You must be starting to see things."

"I can explain what happened." Dante chimed in suddenly as he emerged from the shadows.

"You can?" Dylan and Dawkins asked in unison.

"Sleep paralysis. Looks like you just had your first experience with it." Dante explained, "Basically, if you don't get enough sleep then weird things happen to you and you start seeing things. I get it literally every other night. It's no big deal, really."

"No big deal?" Dawkins gasped in shock, "That's literally the most scared I've ever been in my life! How can you be so nonchalant about something so terrifying?! I thought I was going to die!"

"So did I when it first happened to me." Dante confessed, "But considering my sleep schedules are all weird, it kinda became normal for me to experience it. By now it's not so bad. I just go with the flow and let the demon have it's way with me cause I know it's all an illusion. Just let myself be the chew toy for an imaginary monster. The more you struggle, the scarier the experience gets."

"You see?" Dylan laughed, giving Dawkins a slap on the back, "I was right! It's just your brain playing tricks on you cause you don't have enough sleep."

Dawkins just crossed his arms and scowled in irritation while Dante smiled at him, "You know, if it ever happens to you again feel free to hit me up. We can trade sleep paralysis stories. One of the craziest ones that happened to me was when this huge shadow eagle with a jack-o-lantern head swooped down from the ceiling and tried ripping open my stomach with it's talons."

"Oh shut up, Dante. You are SO not helping!" Dawkins huffed, angrily swiping the tears from his face with a paw, "I just can't believe I got so scared by a silly illusion."

Dylan just smiled at his assistant and gave him a hug, "Hey now, I'd be more terrified than you if it happened to me. No need to be embarrassed over it."

Dawkins blushed even deeper, wriggling out of Dylan's embrace, "I just don't want to talk about it any more."

"That's fine." Dylan replied, "Just remember that if anything scares you, don't be afraid to talk about it with any of us no matter how silly it is."

Dawkins sighed and looked away, "All right, just please don't treat me like a baby over it."

"Agreed." Dylan chuckled, giving Dawkins a playful boop on the nose with his paw. All the little genius could do was scowl grumpily as Dylan and Dante headed towards breakfast.

The end.


End file.
